2010: An Ongoing (cap) Space Odyssey

September 24, 2009|Posted by Ira Winderman on September 24, 2009 12:58 PM

Forget the upcoming season, which, for the Heat, opens with Monday's start of training camp.

(OK, don't, but at times it sure seems as though 2009-10 is setting up merely as an inconvenient truth for most of the league.)

Instead, consider the latest two reasons why the focus on 2010 free agency has been heightened.

First, Charlotte's Raymond Felton led what figures to be a parade of 2009 restricted free agents to settle on one-year deals in order to secure the right to become unrestricted free agents next summer, when the league will be flush with cap cash. Next up are the Knicks' duo of Nate Robinson and David Lee.

Then there is the story of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov (at left) and his agreement to secure majority control of the Nets. If you thought Cablevision tossed around money with the Knicks or that Mark Cuban overspent with the Mavericks, just wait. We're talking someone who could make Paul Allen and Micky Arison look like schleppers.

Now, a Wade or LeBron or Bosh can comfortably enter into a free-agent agreement with New Jersey next summer confident that there is a clear bridge to Brooklyn.

The Nets will matter again. They will own at least one of the five boroughs.

And so it goes. More talent on the 2010 free-agent market. More money in the pool.

We could say we now resume normal 2009-10 programming already in progress, but everyone knows better.

This all is nothing more than a prelude to a summer that could provide more sizzle than anything we witness these next nine months.